Premium
Quality of life: An overview of issues for use in occupational therapy outcome measurement
Author(s) -
Liddle Jacki,
McKenna Kryss
Publication year - 2000
Publication title -
australian occupational therapy journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.595
H-Index - 44
eISSN - 1440-1630
pISSN - 0045-0766
DOI - 10.1046/j.1440-1630.2000.00217.x
Subject(s) - occupational therapy , conceptualization , quality of life (healthcare) , meaning (existential) , psychological intervention , construct (python library) , psychology , value (mathematics) , medicine , clinical psychology , applied psychology , psychotherapist , psychiatry , computer science , artificial intelligence , machine learning , programming language
The concept of quality of life (QOL) has been used as an outcome measure to indicate the global health, functioning and wellbeing of a person following illness, injury or disability, and to evaluate the effectiveness of therapeutic interventions. Whilst QOL has been widely used for these purposes by researchers and practitioners in the health and social sciences, it has had limited application by occupational therapists. This has occurred despite the obvious links to occupational therapy philosophy, with both having a multifaceted, holistic, and client‐centred approach to people’s lives, and a concern with the roles and functions that give life meaning and value. This paper reviews QOL literature in order to introduce occupational therapists to the issues involved with using this construct, from its conceptualization to its measurement. A guide to the decision‐making processes involved in selecting an appropriate QOL outcome measure for use in occupational therapy practice is provided.